This invention relates to an abrading and cutting tool assembly for use with power or hand operated drive assemblies, such as reciprocating or revolving sanders, and particularly to an abrading and cutting tool assembly adapted for use in auto body repair.
In repairing damaged auto bodies the common practice is to spread a mixed plastic material evenly over the damaged area. The commonly used body plastic chemically hardens in about ten to fifteen minutes leaving a sticky or tacky surface. Prior to sanding the repaired surface the body plastic is precut and the tacky surface removed. A hand held body grinder is often used for the pre-cutting and tacky surface removal. Occasionally a cheese shredder type cutter is used on the body plastic before it hardens. The cheese shredder cutter will remove the tacky surface and will pre-cut the body plastic.
Both the grinding and cheese shredder cutting processes present inherent problems in auto body repair. The grinding process results in a great amount of body plastic dust being generated. The airborne dust creates a health hazard to the auto body worker and to others in the work area. The dust is also carried to the area surrounding the work, creating conditions which require time consuming cleaning. It has also been found that grinding of the body plastic often results in more material being removed than is desired, requiring repeated applications of body plastic and grinding to achieve the final shape and surface condition. Repeated application of body plastic and grinding increases job cost because of the added time and material needed to achieve a final repair condition. The cheese shredder cutter process is limited in that the cutter is only effective when used prior to hardening or curing of the body plastic. The curing time of body plastic may be as short as five minutes on a warm day. Oftentimes the pre-cutter process is not achievable within the short curing time and the worker must resort to grinding.
This invention overcomes the problems inherent in the grinding and cheese shredder cutting processes for pre-cutting body plastic and tacky surface removal. An abrading and cutting tool assembly is provided which reduces the time required to pre-cut body plastic and remove the tacky surface while practically eliminating airborne dust generation, enhancing the safety of workers and greatly reducing the time necessary for cleaning the work area. The present invention also results in the body plastic being finished without the need for time consuming and material wasteful repeat operations. The use of my invention also avoids the need of finishing body plastic prior to curing, thus avoiding the oftentimes rush to finish which frequently results in the finishing work being poorly and improperly achieved only to have to be repeated.